Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2009 Issue

Arctic and Canadiana from Bjarne Tokerud

Mrs. Peary's dress seems out of place for the Arctic.

Mrs. Peary's dress seems out of place for the Arctic.


Item 1 is a reward notice: An Act for giving a publick Reward for such Person or Persons, His Majesty's Subject or Subjects, as shall discover a North West Passage through Hudson's Streights, to the Western and Southern Ocean of America. The reward was for 20,000 pounds, a great sum of money when offered by King George II in 1745. Of course, the King was safe on his bet, though he would not have known it. No one could possibly collect as there is no outlet from Hudson's Bay that leads to the Pacific. $1,800.

Item 25 consists of 12 bound issues (Volume I, Issues 1-12, 1893-4) of the obscure periodical Around the World. It includes numerous articles on the Arctic, some from explorer Robert Peary (who 15 years later would be the first to reach the North Pole - though some dispute his claim) and his wife Josephine Diebitsch Peary. $400.

Bjarne Tokerud Bookseller may be reached at 250-381-2230 or bjarnetokerud@shaw.ca.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions